Decisions of Life and Death
by NoNickNeeded
Summary: This story is an alternate and darker take on the events of Chapter 361 of the Fairy Tail Manga. What might have happened if Wendy took just a bit longer to heal Natsu? What could have happened if Lucy was forced to play Jackal's sick and cruel game, putting the life of two hostages into her hands and she had to decide who's allowed to live or die? Rated M for violence
1. Chapter 1 - Decisions of Life and Death

**Disclaimer:** Fairy Tail and all associated characters, locations, ect. are owned by Hiro Mashima.

This is an alternate take on the events that happened in Chapter 361 - Two Bombs. A "what-if" of what might have happened if Wendy had needed longer to heal Natsu and Lucy was forced into playing Jackal's cruel game. I hope you'll enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

**What happened before:** After Natsu was knocked unconscious by Jackal, Lucy and Wendy tried to attack the Demon, but their attacks (Sky Dragon's Roar and Scorpio's Sand Buster) were neutralized by Jackal's explosions. Then Jackal counterattacked with yet another explosion, which knocked the two girls away and he chased after former council member Michello. Lucy told Wendy to take care of Natsu and chased after the Demon, but ended up on a trap cast by him - a landmine curse that would explode the moment Lucy moved away from the magic circle below her feet.

Each part is written with the focus on one character and the italic texts are the thoughts of that character.

* * *

**Decisions of Life and Death**

_Focus on Lucy_

Before Lucy, Michello and a random, female bystander were floating two meters above the ground, suspended in red spheres.

With an evil grin on his face Jackal started to explain: "They're ticking bombs. See? I'm about to show you how truly ugly all Humans are on the inside... I'll only detonate one."

"You get to choose who lives."

Lucy couldn't believe what she was hearing. _Why would he do something like that? How could he do something like that?_ "Eh?" was all that she could get out at that moment.

"Please save me! I'm pregnant!" the woman was crying.

"You came to protect me, right? SAVE ME!" Michello yelled.

"P- Please stop! What could you possibly hope to gain by doing something like this?!"

"Gain? Nothin'. Humans are simply playthings for me, that's all."

"Fight me fair and sq-" Lucy began to yell, but Jackal fell into her words. "You have ten seconds left, the clock's ticking..."

"No way..." _How can I decide who's going to live and die? I don't know anything about them... and only ten seconds..._

"Ugh... this is terrible..." the woman sobbed while Michello continued with his tantrum, claiming that his own life was more important than some random woman off the streets.

To her surprise Jackal jumped off the roof and landed right in front of Lucy, with his back to her. _This is my chance! I can summon spirits without moving off this mark! Will the spheres dissipate if I knock him out? If it does it'll save both of them, but if not they'll both die... I can't choose who's to live and who's to die... I have to risk attacking him._

She tensed up in preparation for the attack, and began to reach for her keys, but before she could grasp them Jackal turned his head and looked back at her over his shoulder. "Whoa... If you move you're the one that goes Kaboom. If that happens, they'll both be joining the fireworks show..."

_No! If he faces this way he can blow them up faster than I can summon a spirit to attack him._

"It'll be okay... it'll be okay... Mama will protect you..." the woman cooed to her unborn child, tears streaming from her face.

Lucy squeezed her eyes shut_. I can't do this... how can I decide over the life and death of complete strangers! Natsu you always saved me... please help me!_

"Now... which life will you choose, Fairy Tail?!" Jackal shouted in obvious delight.

Lucy forced herself to open her eyes again. The woman seemed to be gone in a world of her own as she alternated between sobbing and whispering comforting words to her unborn child, while Michello was staring at her with narrowed eyes, mouth open and trembling. She looked back and forth between the two as her thoughts raced through her mind at incredible speeds.

_Michello might be an asshole who only cares for himself, but he obviously knows something about that thing Jackal was looking for. His information might save many lives, but that woman still has her entire life before her and is with child..._

Her eyes locked with Michello's.

_I'm sorry... I'm so sorry_ was running through her mind over and over again, as she slowly lifted her hand to point at the cat-eared little man before her, tears running from her eyes.

Despite already having made the decision, she just couldn't bring herself to tell the Demon to kill someone, so instead she stammered: "Please... s-s-s-save the woman..."

Michello's eyes widened in shock for a moment, before he went completely calm, looking almost... peaceful? Seeing the energetic man give up on life broke Lucy's heart.

He gave a look as if he was forgiving her... it made Lucy's guilt surge up even more and made her cry even harder. She wanted to avert her eyes in shame, but she just couldn't. Couldn't turn away from her responsibility.

"Oh? You really decided! You have more backbone than I expected. Well done my little Fairy. Now then to end mister 'My life is more valuable than anyone else's'... Or maybe..." there was an explosion around Michello and he cried out in pain.

"I just used a very small explosion. It surely hurt like hell, but it didn't kill the geezer. It wouldn't be much fun to just end our little game so quickly after all. So my little Fairy! Who's going to take the next blow?"

"What?" Lucy cried out in horror.

"Oh? Isn't it obvious what's going on here? Each round I will blow up one of them, unless you fail to decide, then I'll blow up both. I'll gradually increase the power of the explosion until one of them is dead.  
No wait... that by itself wouldn't be all that interesting either... hmm... what to do?

_He's totally crazy! How can any being be so cruel?_

"Oh I got it! Let's play ten rounds. If one of them dies before then, I'll let you and the other hostage go.  
If you manage to keep both of them alive until round 10, I'll let both of them go, but you will have to take their place... and since you'll have robbed me of the joy of the kill, that'll mean a slow death for you. Fail to make a decision within 20 seconds and all three of you die.  
Isn't it fun! I'm in such a great mood right now that I'll even count this first blow-up as round one!"

After his delighted explanation, his face settled back into a cruel grin and his voice became a threatening growl "Now who will explode next?"

_I have to buy some time. Maybe he'll show me an opening, or Natsu or Wendy might come to help._

"How can I trust your word? You already lied to me o~" she started to argue, but Jackal wouldn't have it.

"Ah ah ah... no arguing, no begging, just choosing." he softly reprimanded her, while shaking a finger at her, as if she was a little child who was caught gossiping during class. "Another such breach of the rules and I'll have to blow up all of you. Surely that's not what you want, right? So choose!"

_No choice then, but how can I do this? If I choose the same person all the time, it'll just end up with him or her dying... I'll have to spread the damage between them. My life will be forfeit, but at least I can save them... but how can I make sure they both survive. Michello must be a mage to have been allowed to become a councillor, so he should be able to survive more damage than a regular woman, but he's already old and hunched over... did his body already become frail? But I have to think of the child too..._

"Time's almost up" Jackal whispered in a sing-song voice.

Lucy pointed at Michello a second time.

The calm that had settled over Michello before was gone. Instead of forgiveness, now his eyes were glaring at her, full of hatred and contempt, but Lucy just couldn't look away from those eyes... until they vanished behind the second explosion's flames. In a way Lucy was even glad about those hateful looks. They matched the self-loathing that was building up inside of her with every second she was unable to escape this disgusting game of life and death.

"You really don't like that little man do you? Not that I can blame you... if this game here wasn't far more interesting, I'd have exploded his limbs one after the other already and left him to bleed out. Anyway... next round! Who will you choose?"

Hesitantly Lucy pointed at the female hostage. For a moment Lucy felt relieve that the woman didn't look her way... didn't even seem to notice what was going on around her and thus wouldn't agonize over what was coming. A piercing scream escaped from the woman's lips as the explosion enveloped her in flames.

"Finally starting to spread out the damage. A wise decision. But can that frail woman take it? Will she lose her brat in the process? Let's find out! Ah this is so much fun!"

The woman continued to weep and Michello continued to hatefully glare at her. _That's right... hate me, loath me... I deserve it for all of this. If only I'd be stronger I could save you, but I am not..._

As more and more tear streamed down from Lucy's eyes she started to shiver all over. Her stomach started to lurch and she had trouble keeping on her feet as the world around her began to spin. _I can't take this! I can't take this anymore!_

Slowly she lifted her left foot and moved it forward to step off the circle that marked the cursed area.

* * *

**Afterwords:** For those who remember me from my last (and first) story "The Last Fairy", Hi again. I kinda wanted to write a more light-hearted story next, but it seems I can only get inspired and motivated by the darker aspects of the manga... oh well, better than no inspiration at all ;)

That current chapter (361 - Two Bombs) started out real nice, had a great build-up of tension and created a really dramatic and gripping situation for Lucy. It really had me so excited and I wanted to know how Lucy would react and then *bam*... Natsu just punches all the tension and drama out the window. Hmpf... I like Hiro Mashima's stories a lot (well... Fairy Tail and Rave Master at least, since those are the only two I've read so far *blush*), but sometimes I really don't get what's going on in his head. So here I am, writing my own version of events and how I think it would have been better.

5.1.2014: I squeezed in three more sentences to show just how torn Lucy is by the situation she's in and how she begins to hate herself.


	2. Chapter 2 - Raging Demon and Dragon - v2

**Disclaimer: **Fairy Tail and all associated characters, locations, magics, ect. are owned by Hiro Mashima.

* * *

**Chapter 2 - Raging Demon and Dragon**

_Focus on Natsu_

Wendy had done a great job of getting him up on his feet so fast. Natsu felt proud at the speed with which the girl's powers were growing. She seemed so frail and helpless when he first met her during the Nirvana incident... so unsure of herself. And now she was charging the enemy without fear or hesitation. Okay maybe not without fear, but unlike that scared little girl from back then, she'd become able to overcome that fear and that's at least as good. And she was growing stronger all the time.

Thinking about someone overcoming their fears brought his thoughts to the problem at hand. Lucy. Gentle - well... mostly gentle, though still someone you didn't want to piss off - good hearted Lucy Heartfilia. Always terrified of battle, but marching straight into the jaws of hell anyway to uphold her principles and save others, no matter if they were friends or strangers, no matter how often and how badly she was hurt. And now she's done it again. While Natsu was down for the count and Wendy was busy with patching him up, the blonde had gone after the Demon by herself to save that stupid ex-councillor, even after the way Jackal had just casually brushed her and Wendy aside before... knowing full well that she barely stood a chance against him and that she couldn't expect any mercy from the enemy either. _But that's just how she is. Compassionate to a fault. Never giving up. Just two things about her that make me like her so much._

Soon those thoughts were forgotten again, when he closed in on Lucy's and Jackal's position.

Not wanting to waste another second Natsu decided to jump up on the roof of the house before him, instead of going around it as Lucy had done, judging from her scent-trail.

When he reached the top of the roof he took a moment to asses the situation. _There she is! _Lucy was standing on something that looked like a magic circle. Her clothes were torn, her hair in disarray and she had burn marks and bruises spread over her body. Two people - that annoying bastard cat-man and a woman he didn't recognize - were floating in red spheres. Natsu prepared to rush at Jackal.

_You made fun of Fairy Tail. You hurt my nakama. You hurt Lucy! I'll make you pay!_

As the Demon prattled on about something Natsu couldn't care less about, he looked at Lucy again and his steps faltered for a moment. Tears were running down her soot-stained cheeks. She had a guilty and defeated look on her face, as if she was about to give up. She was shaking all over.

_Lucy never gives up. Even when Hades summoned those Demons, even when she was shaking so badly from the fear, she didn't give up! What did he do to her to make her look like that?_ Anger... well... even more anger started to well up in Natsu. He was blazing with it. Pouring all his hatred and anger into the flames around his fist, he continued his charge at the Demon.

"Who will you choose?" Jackal asked, his eyes locked on Lucy.

"I CHOOSE YOU!" Natsu screamed as he hammered his fist into Jackal's face.

He couldn't remember ever feeling so good about punching someone.

Half a second later, he heard a detonation from the direction in which he had seen Lucy. He turned around and saw a massive pillar of flame where Lucy had been standing just a moment before. Lucy was cart-wheeling away from the explosion, thrown to the side, away from the street she had come from.

Natsu's heightened hearing could pick up the sickening sound of breaking bones when she hit the ground hard. Her left arm and leg - the side with which she had hit the street - were bent in places where they shouldn't be able to bend. Her head lolled around disoriented. She was mumbling something, but he couldn't make out what. Each time she breathed out, a small tickle of blood streamed from the side of her mouth.

"LUCY!"

_Not again! I swore to myself that I wouldn't let it happen again. I swore to myself that I'd become strong enough to protect my nakama!_

The pink haired boy tried to rush over to his fallen comrade, but before he could reach her, the ground between them erupted upwards in a fiery blast.

Natsu froze. For an agonizing moment it had looked as if the explosion had hit Lucy, but it was just between them. Probably to get his attention and stop him from getting to her._ She's still breathing and moving. Wendy will be here any moment now and take care of her. She's gonna be alright. She has to be alright!_

"Where do you think you're going? I'm getting really sick of you interfering in my fun with your weak punches."

Natsu turned his attention back to the Demon. Absently he noted that the two red spheres he had noticed before had disappeared. The woman was down on the cobblestones on her hands and knees, sobbing as she slowly crawled away. Michello was floating in the river, looking back and forth between the Demon and Dragon Slayer with a stunned expression. _I can't help Lucy until I beat that guy._ Natsu thought to himself. Not wanting to waste even a single second, he immediately rushed Jackal again, landing a few more punches.

"You're quite thick-headed, aren't you? You touched me again." Jackal said in an annoyed tone of voice, as he detonated the curse marks that had appeared on Natsu where he had touched the Demon.

"I understand your trick now..." Natsu growled, barely loud enough to be heard by his opponent.

"Trick?" Jackal asked confused. Right after the initial ignition of the curse marks, the Dragon Slayer somehow pulled the explosion to his mouth and swallowed them. A moment later his whole body seemed to explode.

Through the curtain of flames Natsu could see the Demon's confused expression changing back to a broad grin. He just began to open his mouth. _Probably to tell me again how stupid I am, but I'll shove those words right back down your throat!_ Before Jackal had the chance to utter whatever it was he planed to say, the flames cleared away. His grin fell away and was replaced by utter shock. Instead of being blown to bits, as Jackal had probably expected, Natsu was still standing in front of him only slightly singed, his face set with grim determination.

Natsu charged again. Since Jackal had landed on the other side of the small river after the last series of punches by the Dragon Slayer, he had to jump over the channel. He intending to kick the Demon's teeth in as he flew over him. In mid-air his stomach was hit by two explosions in quick succession. _Now who's the thick-headed one? That won't work again!_ Natsu thought to himself as the flames temporarily obscured his sight. He sucked them in greedily, still sailing through the air.

When all the flames had gone, he finally realized that he'd been a fool. While he didn't take any damage from them, the explosions still managed to alter his trajectory, making it easy for Jackal to duck below the kick.

After landing Natsu immediately whirled around, preparing another attack but the expression on Jackal's face gave him a moments pause.

The two people from before were once again floating two meters above the surface, encased in those red spheres. When he came on the scene earlier, his attention was too focused on Lucy to pay attention to them, but now he noticed the dangerous smell around them... they reeked of Jackal's explosions.

"You might want to reconsider attacking me. When you hit me a moment ago, I lost my grip on the spheres only because I was so surprised, but that won't happen again. Attack me now and the two will die!"

"Ahhh... now I'll have to explain the stupid rules again!"

As the Demon prattled on and on about his rules, about how fun this game was and what he intended to do to Natsu if he broke the rules, the Fire Dragon Slayer saw Lucy attempting to stand up, but with her broken leg she just couldn't. For a moment he saw something golden glitter in Lucy's right hand, before his attention was drawn back to Jackal.

"Hey flame brain!"_ Flame brain?_ Hearing one of Gray's favourite insults to him from the mouth of the Demon made Natsu cringe. "Are you even listening?" Jackal sighed heavily before going on. "Since you seem the really dense type, I'll even extend the time limit for answering to a full thirty seconds! Am I not the most generous Demon out there?"

Next to Lucy Natsu saw two magic circles appear and resolve into Virgo and Aries. The maid immediately vanished underground. Jackal didn't seem to have noticed what was going on behind his back.

_I can't believe she's doing that! She's hurt so badly and yet she's still able to summon two Zodiacs! Lucy is amazing!_

"Who do you choose? The woman or the geezer?"

"Double Wool Bomb!" the ram shouted.

Jackal just had time to exclaim "Double wool what?" before he was pulled into a hole beneath his feet with a yelp of surprise.

Two pink clouds were flying toward the hostages. To Natsu's surprise they easily penetrated through the red spheres and wrapped themselves around the people inside, before they disappeared behind a curtain of flames. Jackal must have detonated them!

As the Dragon Slayer jumped back over the river to look after Lucy, he noted with relieve that the wool-cover had absorbed the majority of the blasts, leaving the woman and Michello with just a few more small burns and bruises, but nothing that looked serious. Aries summoned another set of pink clouds to stop the two from hitting the ground. When they had landed safely on the them, the fluffy balls of wool floated back to Aries. At a nod from Lucy, the spirit ran away as quickly as her legs would carry her, with the wool clouds following after her, taking the hostages to safety.

Natsu whirled around when he heard a pained shriek that abruptly cut off from behind him. It had sounded like Virgo. A massive explosion tore up from underground, sending stones flying everywhere. The Dragon Slayer positioned himself in front of Lucy and made sure she wasn't hit by the fusillade of debris.

"Now... I'm... Really... ANGRY!" In a fit of rage Jackal started to throw one explosion after the next at Natsu. The Dragon Slayer ate them all, but the Demon seemed to be enraged beyond rational thought. _Damnit! Even though those attacks barely hurt me, they still push me back a little each time I'm hit. I can't get close to him. And while I'm eating his flames, I can't even launch any ranged attacks. But if I dodge them, they'll hit Lucy._

_I can't go forward, but maybe I can go sideward..._

Natsu began to move away from Lucy. He was careful to move slow enough to make sure that all the explosions would still hit him, while trying to make it look as if he tried to move faster, but was unable to do so under the barrage. Occasionally he'd take a step or two back toward Lucy to make his ploy less obvious.

After a short while, during which the Demon's barrage hadn't let up in the slightest, he had moved about three meters away from his previous position.

_Worked like a charm... this leaves enough room between me and Lucy that the blasts won't hurt her, even if I dodge them. And if they don't hit me, I can move forward. Maybe I can even ride the shockwave to gain a boost of speed. Now I'll be able to get close and pound that bastard good. I'll make him regret hurting Lucy! _the Dragon Slayer thought when he had gotten some distance between himself and Lucy. A confident smile started to form on his lips, but immediately his elation turned to alarm. Just as Natsu began to dodge the next explosion, a big grin spread on Jackal's face as he raised his right arm to point straight at Lucy.

_NO! He saw through it! I have to protect Lucy!_

But Natsu had already committed his weight behind the dodge. Try as he might he couldn't reverse direction fast enough and by the time he had jumped back between Jackal and Lucy it was already too late.

He spun around and his entire world zeroed in on Lucy. He didn't see anything else. Not the houses, not the streets or the little river... not even the young Sky Dragon Slayer who just started to dive toward Lucy in a futile attempt to get her out of harm's way or the two Exceeds at her shoulders.

He tried to shout her name, but only a strangled, desperate wheezing made it past his terror-constricted throat.

For a moment the Celestial Spirit Mage cried out in pain, as fire erupted around her. The cry was cut short as she was thrown through the air a short distance. When she came down again, she was rolling and skidding, until her body crashed against the wall of a nearby house, without her uttering so much as a single grunt of pain. She lay completely still. What was left of her clothed was charred completely black, some pieces still smoking, her skin burnt to cherry red all over. To Natsu's utter horror he couldn't hear her heartbeat anymore.

A long drawn out scream tore from his lungs, shifting pitch until it sounded like the roar of a real Dragon.

* * *

**Afterwords:** Since I hate it when Hiro Mashima depicts Lucy as the useless and helpless damsel in distress, I was really distraught over my story ending up the same way, but when I lay in bed yesterday, unable to fall asleep, my wandering thoughts came up with a way to give her a small change to shine. Now I feel much better about my story.

5.1.2014: Grammar and Spelling fixes.


	3. Chapter 3 - The Sky Dragon's Fear

******Disclaimer: **Fairy Tail and all associated characters, locations, magics, ect. are owned by Hiro Mashima.

_**I made changes to Chapter 2, giving Lucy a chance to shine a bit, before being blasted. I recommend re-reading the 2nd half of the chapter.**_

* * *

**Chapter 3 - The Sky Dragon's Fear**

_Focus on Wendy_

Wendy could still scarcely believe that Lucy went after that monster on her own. Even when the two of them had attacked together, they couldn't even put so much as a single scratch on him and not even Natsu had been able to best the Demon.

Even if Lucy managed to delay him somehow, the young Sky Dragon Slayer feared that her friend would be seriously injured in the process... or worse. _Oh I hope she's somehow alright... please let Lucy be alive!_ she thought as she treated Michelia's wounds, the two Exceeds hovering nervously over her shoulders. Just a moment ago Natsu had rushed off after the Celestial Spirit Mage, after Wendy had patched him up. She'd have liked to do more for his wounds, but with Lucy at risk Natsu just couldn't stay still and the moment he was able to move again, he had taken off. Wendy understood his feelings all too well... inside her, a voice told her - screamed at her really - to do the same, but she couldn't just leave this poor woman back here, possibly bleeding to death.

_Just a little longer to make sure she survives. Just a little longer_ ran through Wendy's head over and over again, as the seconds ticked by and each one seemed to stretch into infinity.

With the way her troubled mind messed with her perception of time, she had no idea how long the healing had taken, but what did it matter? It was not like she could turn back time.

After a few more consoling words to the wounded woman, assurances that they would save her grand-father and advising her to run as fast and far as she could, Wendy too had rushed off after Lucy's scent, the two Exceeds following closely behind her. Some people came running in the opposite direction and she had to weave and dodge between them to avoid running into them.

Explosions could be heard close-by. _Natsu and Lucy must be fighting with the Demon... Please be save, both of you!_

As she rounded a last corner a horrifying scene was laid out before her. Wendy's hands shot up to cover her mouth. Lucy was lying some distance away, sprawled awkwardly. Her left arm and leg were clearly broken and she had bruises and burns all over her body. For a moment she couldn't tell if the Celestial Spirit Mage was alive or dead.

With all the loud noises from the explosions, even the little Dragon Slayer's fine hearing couldn't pick up the sounds of Lucy's heartbeat or breathing, but to her relieve she saw her friend's chest rise and fall and her lips were moving, even though the words couldn't be heard over the ruckus. _Thank the spirits! She's still alive! But where is Natsu?_

Some two or three meters away from Lucy, she spotted him. He was bombarded by one explosion after another, gulping down the flames as fast as they appeared after each blast. Even though he seemed to take no damage from them, each one pushed him back a step, negating any headway he could make and thus preventing him from moving forward.

Suddenly Natsu made a dash to the side, away from Lucy, a confident grin starting to form on his face, only to almost immediately be replaced by a look of alarm. His head jerked around. At first Wendy thought he had noticed her, but then she saw his horrified face locked tightly on Lucy. It looked like he was trying to change direction, but his momentum just carried him on.

Wendy risked a quick glance at the Demon, standing on the other side of the small river. He pointed a hand directly at Lucy, an evil grin on his face.

"Nooooo!" Wendy screamed at the top of her lungs. She saw that Natsu was trying desperately to throw himself into the line of fire, but he wouldn't make it in time. Wendy also made a mad dash in Lucy's direction, but she was too far away. Before the young Sky Dragon Slayer's horrified eyes Lucy vanished behind a column of flames, letting out a short piercing cry of pain.

When the flames died down, she could see Lucy lying crumpled against a nearby house, completely still. In the sudden silence every tiny noise seemed to swell into a cacophony. The quiet gurgling of the water under the bridge, the buzzing of a fly on the other side of the street, the people crying and shouting in the distance... Wendy could hear it all in a clarity that was almost painful. But it wasn't the things that she heard, which scared her.

It was the things she didn't hear.

The heartbeat and the breathing of her friend, who was like a big sister to her - Lucy.

Natsu screamed.

Wendy had never heard a sound of such utter misery before in her entire life.

Her eyes were inexorably drawn to her fellow Dragon Slayer. As he howled his sorrow and pain at the sky above him, from his thrown back head, a change came over him. In his wide open mouth, his canines - longer in Dragon Slayers than in normal Humans, but only a bit - started to lengthen. In some places his skin seemed to crawl, as if something was moving beneath it until tiny red and orange scales had formed on his brow and cheeks and ran all the way down to his hands and fingers. If one could still call them fingers that was. The nails hand lengthened and thickened to a degree that it was more appropriate to call them claws. Some yellow scales formed lightning-like patterns at the side of his neck. The scream had shifted pitch until it no longer sounded like a Human scream, but like the roar of an enraged Dragon.

Wendy had heard stories of Dragon Force and heard the description of what it looked like on Sting and Rogue during their match against Natsu and Gajeel, but she had never seen it with her own eyes.

_Is this what we really are? Is this what we will eventually become?_

Flames started to billow up around Natsu and lightning cracked along the fiery cocoon.

Instinctively Wendy took a step back. _I'm scared... scared of Natsu..._

The change that came over her fellow Dragon Slayer frightened her down to the very core of her being. No enemy, save for Master Hades, had ever been able to make her tremble in fear like her friend's appearance did right now.

_I... I can't just stand here... being scared of my comrade... shaking in fear... I... I have to save Lucy!_

Concentrating on what needed to be done, helped her to finally push her fears to the back of her mind and the young Dragon Slayer was able to force herself into moving again. She rushed over to Lucy's fallen body and began with emergency treatment.

* * *

**Afterwords:** I am aware that Natsu only managed to enter Dragon Force before when he was fed a lot of magical energy (Etherion and Jellal's Flame of Guilt/Rebuke), but in both cases there was also a lot of emotion involved. Sting and Rogue were only able to go into Dragon Force because of the Lacrima implanted into their bodies, but then again, they were much weaker than Natsu.

With the massive boost in power that Dragon Slayers can get from what Minerva called "the power of feelings" (and people on the Fairy Tail wikia mostly refer to as "Nakama power"), I got the idea that under the right circumstance even a first gen Dragon Slayer can generate enough energy to push him- or herself into Dragon Force without being fed magic. Also Natsu might gain magic power from eating Jackal's explosions.

I hope it's not too much of a stretch.

2.12.: Grammar fixes


	4. Chapter 4 - Unleashed

**Disclaimer:** Fairy Tail and all associated characters, locations, magics, ect. are owned by Hiro Mashima.

As JcL107 pointed out to me, what I'm writing isn't really from the Point of View of the characters, so I decided to change that line to "Focus on X" to show which character's thoughts the italic texts are. Thanks for helping me come up with a better fitting term for it ;) I'll change it in the past chapters too at some point.

Due to some rather violent moments and me not being fully sure where the line between T and M lies, I decided to change the age rating to M to be on the save side. This is purely for the violence, since there is not going to be any ecchi content in this story.

* * *

**Chapter 4 - Unleashed**

_Focus on Natsu_

For a moment the Celestial Spirit Mage cried out in pain, as fire erupted around her. The cry was cut short as she was thrown through the air a short distance. When she came down again, she was rolling and skidding, until her body crashed against the wall of a nearby house, without her uttering so much as a single grunt of pain. She lay completely still. What was left of her clothes was charred completely black, some pieces still smoking, her skin burnt to cherry red all over. To Natsu's utter horror he couldn't hear her heartbeat anymore.

_No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no... this can't be happening, This Can't Be Happening, THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING!_

_Every time I mess up, every time I'm too weak to defeat an enemy it's always Lucy who has to pay the price! Angel, Brain, Hades, Midnight, Minerva... every time I mess up it's always Lucy who suffers. I swore I would never let it happen again. Why is it always her! I deserve to be the one to suffer! It should be me who's lying there dead!_

_...dead... Lucy's dead..._

_Ever since we met I've spent practically my whole time with her... I can't imagine my life without Lucy in it..._

He closed his eyes, threw back his head and started to scream.

As he howled his pain and sorrow at the sky, something snapped deep within his soul. Power welled up from inside of him and started to run through his entire body. A tingling sensation passed over his face, down his cheeks and arms. A shudder ran through his whole body as his scream deepened and rose in volume.

The sensation was familiar and yet different... He had felt it twice before, but those had been mere shadows of what he was feeling now.

Dragon Force!

Making Erza cry... some threat to Caith Shelter he couldn't even see with his own eyes... sure those things had made him angry, but that anger was like a candle's flame compared to the incandescent inferno that was raging and burning within him like the heart of a volcano right now. What were a friend's tears or an abstract threat compared to Lucy's death?

Ever since he ate Laxus' lightning and gained the use of his Lightning-Flame-Dragon mode in the battle against Hades, he could feel a block somewhere inside him. No matter how much magic he absorbed, Dragon Force just wouldn't activate. Not even uncle Atlas' flames - the flames of a real Dragon! - were able burn through this block... but now it had crumbled under the onslaught of his deep anguish.

Slowly he turned, opened his eyes again and went down into a battle stance, his teeth barred in a feral snarl. Flames and lightning crackling all over him.

The Demon looked on in fascination... until he suddenly found himself flying backwards, surprise written all over his face. He seemed to have problems comprehending how Natsu was suddenly able to move so fast.

Still in the air Jackal screamed "Just what the hell are you?", all the amusement and fascination gone from his face and voice. He brought his hands toward the Fire Dragon Slayer to blow him up.

Natsu didn't even bother with trying to dodge or eating the explosions. He just let them hit him and ploughed through them.

Seeing the Dragon Slayer still coming directly at him, Jackal made an explosion right above himself to be able to change direction in mid-air. He nimbly landed on his feet and just as Natsu shot over his head, he reached up again, grabbed a red-scaled hand and used the Fairy's momentum against him. Natsu was overturned and his back smashed hard enough into the ground to crack the paving and leave a small Natsu-shaped crater.

Feeling proud of himself, Jackal tried to pull his arm back, but Natsu had already grabbed it tightly and jumped back to his feet. The Dragon Slayer whipped the Demon around himself with all his strength and sent Jackal flying, crashing him straight through two walls.

A middle-aged man and woman, who for some unfathomable reason had decided to hide, rather than to run like all the other more sensible people around, stood dumbfounded next to the holes in their house. They couldn't quite comprehending how something that looked like a were-cat could just crash through the wall of their house, fly through the entire room and crash out the other side again. When they saw a young man with long canines, slit pupils, scales over his face and arms, fingers turned into wicked looking claws and encased from head to toe in fire and electrical discharges slowly walking toward them, they finally noticed that in this situation hiding just didn't cut it and bolted through the gaping hole to run off screaming.

Before Natsu even reached the breach in the wall, Jackal - lost in a rage of his own - came charging back through the wrecked house and tried to punch Natsu in the face.

The Dragon Slayer effortlessly caught the Demon's fists and slammed him into the ground. Ignoring the two explosions that went off between them, Natsu pinned his opponent to the ground by sitting on his stomach and started to pound him with enough force crack the paving beneath their bodies.

When Jackal lifted his hand toward the other side of the river, Natsu immediately grabbed it and pulled it up, just in time to redirect the explosion. It hit just a meter above and a little to the left of Lucy's and Wendy's position, showering them with small pieces of debris. ..._Wendy?! I didn't even notice her at all. What is she~_ Before he could think any further on what Wendy could be doing with Lucy's corpse his attention was drawn back to his struggle, when an explosion ripped over his chest and face.

He drew the Demon's arm, that he still held like a vice in his right hand, up as far as he could. With his left hand he held down Jackal's shoulder and continued pulling with his right, until he heard a popping sound as the bone slipped out of it's socket. At the sound Natsu let go of the dislocated arm which limply fell down to the ground, taking some small pleasure in Jackal's cries of pain. He repeated the process with the other arm too.

He let the lightning slip away and concentrated all his magical power into his flames. He encased himself in an inferno fed by all his pain, anguish and rage, that slowly burned the now helpless Demon as he screamed, moaned and struggled, until the fur on his ears and his hair were gone and he had turned the same cherry red as Lucy's skin.

Natsu sat up, moved a bit aside and fixed the Demon in place with his right knee over Jackal's stomach. He grabbed the Demon around the throat with his left hand and drew his right arm back, this time not making a fist, but stretching his fingers straight out, the thumb in line with the others.

Words issued from between Jackal's burnt, split and bleeding lips. "Humans can never defeat Demons. Even if you win this battle the war will be ours! In the end our curse wi~" his words choked off as Natsu drove his hand deep into the Demon's chest. He leaned forward, his head hovering directly above the Demon's, tilted sideways so he could look straight into both of his eyes.

Jackal twitched feebly as Natsu wrapped his hand around something within the Demon's chest. Slowly, ever so slowly, without looking away from his opponent's eyes for even a split second, Natsu started to pull out the Demon's heart. He held his eyes as the Demon's body went into spasms, and was only kept in place by the Dragon Slayer's weight and the hand around it's throat. He held his eyes as the spasms died down and the Demon gasped and sputtered. He held his eyes as the light slowly went out of them, as the frantic beating of the heart in Natsu's hand ceased and Lucy's murderer went completely still.

He held his lifeless, cold and empty eyes as he pulled the Demon's heart the rest of the way out of the chest and with a final cry of fury crushed it in his fist.

_It's over. Lucy's dead. Her murder was avenged. I have nothing left in this life... I wish I could see her smile one last time._

His skin tingled as it went back to normal and his teeth reverted to their usual length.

The Dragon Slayer slowly stood up, turned around and started to walk toward his comrade's fallen body, his eyes cast down on the ground right before his feet. After just a few steps he stopped. He didn't want to touch, no... to defile Lucy's body with the Demon-blood he was coated in, so instead of taking the bridge, Natsu jumped down into the water and swam to the other side.

When Natsu's head came up out of the channel again, he saw that Wendy had pulled Lucy's body away from the wall against which it had fallen. He noticed the pale blue light emanating from Wendy's hands, as she was bent over Lucy's body in deep concentration.

_Her healing magic? Does that mean... could it mean..._

He heard heartbeats... five... _five?_ Disregarding the two tiny ones that couldn't possibly be Human and his own, thundering loud in his ears, there were still two others left. One racing in the chest of her owner, much weaker... surely Wendy's. But there was still another one... slow, faint, irregular... but it was there! Lucy's heart was beating! She was still alive!

_No... I saw her die... there was no heartbeat, no breathing... she was dead. I must be mistaken. Wishful thinking... Wendy's just desperately trying the impossible._

Natsu stumbled over to them and sank down on his knees opposite of Wendy. He reached a shaking hand out to gingerly lift Lucy's delicate right hand off the ground, not really daring to hope. But beneath his fingers he could feel the same faint pulse that he heard. Before him Lucy's chest slowly rose and fell. It felt like a miracle.

He burst out in tears and collapsed, his head landing on Lucy's stomach.

"Natsu-san! No! Don't do that! She's too badly hurt, please stay back!" Wendy shouted in shock and quickly pushed Natsu's head away from Lucy, before he could inadvertently do any damage.

"At least you didn't try to hug her... in her condition that might have..." her words trailed off.

"I thought she was dead... I was so sure she was dead..." Natsu stammered out between his sobs.

"Well... technically she was dead" Wendy began to explain in a shaky voice, as she returned to her healing. "Her heart did stop, but only for a minute, until I managed to reanimate her. The Human body can survive several minutes without a heartbeat until it really dies and in that time they can be brought back, even without magic" she went on, more to distract herself from her own fear and trepidation than because she expected Natsu to pay attention the Fire Dragon Slayer suspected. He was well aware that he didn't exactly have the reputation of a good listener... he had to admit that usually that wasn't even an unfair assessment, but this was different. Usually people talked endlessly about stuff he just didn't care about. But this was about Lucy's life! The life Wendy had just brought back. The tears kept falling from his eyes.

_Why am I crying? I never was this happy or this relieved in my life and yet I'm crying..._

"It's a miracle. You really brought her back Wendy. Thank you so much! I can't even begin to tell you how much this means to me."

_What is up with me... not even when Lisanna came back did I feel like this... No, it doesn't matter. The if and how and why don't matter. How I feel doesn't matter. Lucy's alive. That's the only thing that matters._

Natsu slowly became aware of a shrill whistling sound. He realized that it had been building for some time, but just didn't consciously register before, because it started off so silently, building slowly. It came from the direction of the Demon's body.

When he looked over to the other side of the river he saw Jackal's corpse hovering a few centimetres above the ground and radiating a deep red glow. Bright orange lines of light started to form around the body and shaped themselves into a magic circle, looking a lot like the one Natsu had seen below Lucy's feet earlier, but with more lines.

With a shouted "Get away from here!" he grabbed the two Exceeds and tossed them into the sky with all his might. He shoved Wendy on top of Lucy and spread himself over them as good as he could, bracing himself against the ground.

Just as the startled Sky Dragon Slayer began to complain loudly, a massive shockwave hit them hard, made worse by all the debris that it had ripped along and that was now pelting him, ripping deep gouges into his back. It took all of Natsu's strength to keep from being flung away. A moment behind the shockwave a wall of flame rolled in.

As the fire flowed around him, he drew it into his mouth to keep it from burning the two girls under his body. More and more he consumed, but it was just too much and too intense. It seared his back and his lungs burned from the effort of drawing more and more flames into himself. He felt as if he was burning up both from the back and the inside of his lungs. He felt overcharged with magical power, as if it would rip him apart any moment now. And then he felt nothing, as he fell into blackness.

* * *

**Afterwords:** Jackal really got what he deserved, didn't he? I hope I didn't go overboard with the violence in this one, but with the way he tried to make Lucy decide over the lives of the pregnant woman and Michello and his comment about Humans just being playthings for him I really think he deserved it. Even though after what happened with Tempesta, I can't be sure that he's dead for sure after being killed. I guess we'll just have to wait and see if it's a special trait of Tempesta or something common to all the Nine Demon Gates.

2.12.: Grammar


	5. Chapter 5 - Wounds of the Body

**Disclaimer:** Fairy Tail and all associated characters, locations, ect. are owned by Hiro Mashima.

* * *

**Chapter 5 - Wounds of the Body**

_Focus on Natsu_

Natsu awoke from a fitful sleep full of nightmares about Lucy being blown to bits or burned to a pile of ash. When he opened his eyes, he found himself in an unfamiliar bed. He didn't recognize the room either. He looked around the dark room. Despite the lack of light, his Dragon-enhanced eyes could easily make someone out, lying in a bed next to his. A woman. She had bandages all over her face, so he couldn't tell who it was just from looking, but that scent... Lucy! To his great relieve her chest was rising and falling steadily.

He felt exhausted and soon fell back to sleep. Knowing that Lucy was save, right next to him brought him a deep and calm sleep, free of nightmares.

* * *

When he woke up again, he was still in the unfamiliar bed in that unknown room, lying on his stomach. _Unknown room? No. I recognize this place's smell. I've been here before... maybe not this very room but one just like it. Magnolia Hospital._

He drew in a deep breath and revelled at smelling Lucy so close to him. Her scent was mixed with that of blood, herbs and other unfamiliar fragrances, but it was still Lucy. He could hear her even breathing beside him. While it worried him that the smell of blood was mixed in with her scent, it was still a great relieve for him to know that she was alive and cared for.

But there was some other scent as well... _Wendy?_ He squinted his eyes open and waited till they adjusted to the bright sunlight that was streaming into the open window. The light was a shade of orange, but he couldn't tell if it was dawn or dusk. He had been right about the other scent. Over at the far side of Lucy's bed, the young Sky Dragon Slayer was sitting in a chair, her head sunk down to her chest and hanging slightly to the side. Natsu looked her over but couldn't see any bandages or wounds or any other signs of her being hurt. _I was able to shield them from that explosion after all. Good._ While he detect no actual wounds, he was surprised to see the dark bags under Wendy's eyes. _She looks totally exhausted. No wonder she nodded of. I wonder what she was doing to end up like that._

Natsu tried to get up a little so he could turn around and lie on his back. As soon as he lifted his body just a few centimetres off the bed a strong ache in his back made him freeze and he unintentionally let out a hiss. Wendy began to stir and Natsu mentally berated himself for not being more careful and ending up waking her. She looked like she really needed some sleep.

"Natsu...-san?" the blue-haired girl asked, her voice slurred from just waking up. As she came fully awake her eyes went wide. "No, Natsu-san! You shouldn't get up yet. You are still hurt!"

The Flame Dragon Slayer let himself fall back down and waited for the pain to ebb away enough to be able to speak again. As soon as it did, he began to bombard his little companion with question: "Lucy. How is Lucy? How bad is it? Will she be alright? Will she make a recovery? How long will she have to stay here? How..~"

"Natsu-san... Natsu!... NATSU!" Wendy had to raise her voice to put a stop to Natsu's flow of questions. "Please calm down. Lucy-san is... better. For some time it looked really bad, but that's over now. Her life is no longer in danger." A sigh left the pink haired man's throat as a wave of relieve washed through him, followed by a knot of anger building up in his stomach when the 'no longer' sank in. _Her life is 'no longer' in danger... that means it was in danger._ His hands balled into fists._ That goddamn Demon almost murdered her. It's like Naval Battle all over again, but at least this time her tormentor didn't get away with it. But still... I wish I could somehow revive him and kill him all over again for hurting Lucy so badly!_

With his hands balled into fists, his face going red and him baring his teeth, it wasn't hard to guess what must be going through her fellow Dragon Slayer's head. With a worried expression, Wendy tried to sooth Natsu's raging feelings with her softly spoken words. "Natsu-san please stay calm! Lucy-san is save. No one's going to hurt her anymore." He made an effort to cool his temper down. Lucy would be furious if she'd see him like this. She had told him off for giving in to his temper more times than he cared to remember. But worse, she was usually right about it. _And she sure as hell would be right about it this time too. With that bastard already dead, there's nothing I can do about it..._ Absently he heard the girl adding "If you keep this up, you'll only hurt yourself. Please try to stay calm." As his rage slowly ebbed away again, he started to feel the pain in his back and his lungs again. While his great anger had been blocking him from feeling it, his heightened blood pressure and clenched muscles must have done something to his wounds. _Wendy did mention I was hurt before, didn't she? I certainly feel like it._

Seeing that Natsu had finally calmed down, the Sky Sorceress continued with her report on Lucy's condition: "I was able to heal most of her injuries. Her internal wounds have all been dealt with and her skin is almost completely back to normal. There's not much I can do about her broken bones though... she'll have to wear casts on her left arm and leg for a while and some of her ribs have also been broken. Lucy-san hasn't woken up yet."

_Hasn't woken up yet? Is that bad? I only woke up just now too, didn't I?_ "Is that... is that bad?" he asked worried.

Wendy thought about it for a moment before answering hesitantly: "No... I don't think so. With the fight before she was... hurt... she must have already been exhausted when... it happened. That'd certainly contribute to her long sleep. That's probably also why you slept so long. Actually I'd have been surprised if she had already woken up. Porlyuscia-san said she didn't expect her to wake up until late tomorrow at the earliest, before she went home."

" 'So long?' Just how long was I out?"

"You've been asleep for almost three days now" Wendy answered after another pause.

_Three days? That's... quite a lot. I don't think I've ever slept that long. Not even after eating Etherion._ "Three days, eh? Dragon Force really takes it out of you, doesn't it. I should do that more often, so I can just laze around and sleep for days, eh?" he said in a teasing tone of voice.

Before him the young Sky Dragon Slayer tried to hold it in, but eventually she couldn't help but giggle a little, followed by a cute pout. "Natsu-san! This is no time for jokes."

"I know... but seeing you so depressed, I couldn't help but try to cheer you up" Natsu explained and was rewarded by a grateful smile. "But to be honest, you don't look so good yourself. Are you alright? Were you hurt in the fight?"

"No... just a few scratches, bruises and burns. Nothing that a Dragon Slayer's body can't heal by itself over a few days. But I spent most of the last three days healing Lucy and that was quite exhausting."

"Maybe you should go home and get some proper rest then. Or at least lie down in the bed over there. If you are tired, you might make mistakes and besides, sleeping in a proper bed is better than nodding off in a chair. Even I know that."

"You're right... as someone specialized in healing others I really should have known better." The girl replied ashamed as a blush started to form on her face. "The doctors don't like it when someone who isn't a patient sleeps in one of their beds. They only let me stay past the visiting hours because I was helping them heal Lucy-san..." _You helping them heal Lucy? More like the other way round if I had to make a guess,_ ran through Natsu's head, but he decided to keep those thoughts to himself. _She looks embarrassed enough already about me of all people having to remind her to get some proper rest. No need to add to that right now, but I'll keep it in mind. This is just too delicious to not tease her about it later._ He was barely able to suppress the mischievous grin that tried to form on his face at the thought. "But I'll be back first thing in the morning and then I'll see to your back."

"My back's fine." Natsu lied "Can't you take another look at Lucy's arm and leg instead?"

"Unfortunately my magic isn't very good with broken bones. Even with my healing it will still take at the very least two weeks before she can get out of the casts, so another day or two won't matter much." Wendy explained apologetically. "But your back is definitely NOT fine Natsu-san. And that I can fix much faster than Lucy-san's broken bones. And I WILL fix it, even if I have to get the others in the guild to hold you down to do it."

At the determined look on her face Natsu began to wonder. _Does she really mean that? Yes... I think she's serious. That's not the face of someone joking. I really don't want the others to get involved in this... THE OTHERS!_

"Okay, okay. You win. I'll let you patch me up tomorrow, but could you answer me something before you go? What about the others? Happy and Carla? Are the other teams save? And that annoying bastard Michello and the woman that Lucy saved?"

"Carla and Happy are fine. After you tossed them into the air, they got flung around by the shockwave, but they were far enough away that the fire didn't reach them. They tried to come visit, but the doctors just wouldn't let them in here, no matter how much we argued.  
Erza-san and the others are fine too. They called back to the guild each day and they all said that nothing had happened. It seems as if those two were the only ones sent after the former council members.  
Michello-san is fine too. He even came by yesterday to check up on Lucy-san. After the way he treated us when we first met, I was really surprised at how nice he was all of a sudden. He seemed really worried about Lucy and said that if there was anything we needed, he'd do all he could and call in all his favours from his days on the council to help her recover, before he went off with Master Makarov to see Yajima-san." _That bastard being nice to us from Fairy Tail? I can hardly believe it. Lucy did save his miserable life, but still... he must have really been shaken up to change like that. Let's hope it sticks!_

"I don't know anything about a woman. Michello-san did mentioned seeing 'that woman' run away when 'that spirit thing with the horns and wool' as he called it, disappeared and losing sight of her in the chaos... not that I expect him to really have tried, but since I didn't know about any woman being involved in this and was too intent on healing Lucy, I didn't think to ask who he was talking about.  
The explosion seemed to have hit the town really hard. I heard that the whole city-block was flattened and in the resulting fires, half the town burned to the ground. Luckily most people had already been scared away by the previous explosions so there were only few victims, but I don't know how many. I've heard anything from five to twenty-five people dead and thirty to one hundred with serious injuries... I just wish we could have saved them all."

"Me too... but against enemies like them..." his voice trailed of for a moment before he continued: "Even Laxus and the Raijinshuu weren't able to prevent that other Demon from killing more than one hundred people and to be honest... they are stronger than the two of us and Lucy... but don't you DARE tell anyone I said so!" That made Wendy giggle a little again, follow by another one of her cute pouts. "As much as it hurts to admit it, compared to what happened in Hargeon we got of lightly... except for Lucy..."

After a few more minutes of uncomfortable silence Wendy said that she really should get going, because the sooner she got to her bed and got some rest, the sooner she could take care of Natsu's back in the morning.

"Wendy. Thank you. A lot. I can't tell you how much I appreciate what you've done for Lucy."

"You really like Lucy-san a lot, don't you?"

"Of course I do. She's my nakama!"

Wendy just smiled and wished Natsu good night. Before she left, she went over past Lucy's bed to close the window. He wasn't sure since it had been so quiet, but he thought she might have mumbled something about her thinking it was more than just being nakama, before she closed the door behind her.

"Lucy being more than just a nakama to me? Nah... I'd feel the same way for all my fellow guild mates." he mumbled to himself. Without thought he tried to turn around onto his back, but was again stopped short by the sudden pain. _Stupid! Stupid! Don't do that Natsu you idiot._ he mentally chided himself for not paying attention.

He'd never admit it to Wendy, especially not when Lucy was still lying unconscious next to him, but his back really hurt... a LOT. _Oh man this sucks... only being able to lie on my stomach... I doubt I will be getting much sleep_, he thought as he tried to make himself as comfortable as his wounds would allow him to be.

After some more wriggling and pushing the pillow around he finally found a position that didn't hurt. With Wendy gone he had nothing better to do and ended up looking intently on the blonde girl in the next bed.

As she lay there sleeping, her face showed no emotion. _Her face not showing any emotion means that at least she's not in pain right? After all she had to go through recently, there's no one in the entire world who deserves to be free of pain more than her. She certainly deserves it more than me..._

Despite being glad about her not appearing to be in pain, he wished Lucy would look more peaceful, or maybe even have one of those dazzling, beautiful smiles of hers on her face. He really loved to see her smile. No matter how down he felt, her smiles would always make him feel better. A day without one of her smiles just didn't feel complete. _Wait... what am I thinking? When did I start to think like that?_

_But I got damn close to never being able to see that smile ever again. When I saw her lying there... thinking she was dead._ Just the memory of it brought some tears to his eyes and he was glad that no one was around to see him in this state as he buried his face in the pillow.

_What would I do if I ever lost her? Ever since we met, I've been spending more time in her home than in my own. Hell... I've spent almost all my time with her. I can no longer imagine my world without Lucy by my side._

As his silent crying slowly died down again, he marvelled at how fast she had grown on him. _How long ago was it that we met? One year? A month or two less perhaps? Well.. technically it's been more than seven years I guess, but I can't really count all the time we were frozen in Master Mavis' spell._

_Just one year and here I am, already unable to imagine my world without her in it, wishing to see her smile, agonizing about whether she's alright or hurting..._ for a moment his thoughts trailed off...

_Wait... could Wendy have been right after all? Sure I care deeply for all my nakama in the guild, but now that I think about it, with Lucy it really is different. Somehow... more... deeper. What are those feelings? I've never felt anything like it before... not even for Lisanna..._

Natsu noticed that the light outside the window had now completely faded away. _Oh well, that answers the question whether it was dawn or dusk._

_Anyway no sense in tearing my brain apart over my feelings for Lucy right now. I'll figure it out in time. Everything's clearer after a good night's sleep and a good breakfast.  
_

Despite his expectations, Natsu quickly fell asleep. His dreams were full of Lucy's beautiful smiles.

* * *

**Afterwords:** Lucy was the only one to hear Michello begging and screaming for himself to be rescued, no matter how many others had to die for it to happen, while he and the random woman were caught in the red spheres. With Lucy not having woken up yet, Wendy had no way of knowing what happened and just how bad the cat-man really is. That's why she still respectfully calls him '-san', despite his rather despicable personality.  
As for the title: I know this chapter isn't really all that much about physical wounds, but I just really wanted to have the pair of titles for this and the next chapters as "Wounds of the Body" and "Wounds of the Soul" respectively. If that means that his chapter has an ill-fitting title, that's something I can live with.

2.12.: Replced "Charle" with "Clarla", reworded Michello's speach a bit, to him not knowing (or not caring about) Aries' name.


	6. Chapter 6 - Wounds of the Soul

**Disclaimer:** Fairy Tail and all associated characters, locations, ect. are owned by Hiro Mashima.

* * *

**Chapter 6 - Wounds of the Soul**

_Focus on Lucy_

She could feel something warm on her face. Through her closed eyelids she noticed that it was very bright. _Am I in heaven?_

When she tried to open her eyes, she was blinded by the bright light and immediately closed them again. A few seconds later she tried again, this time slowly squinting them open bit by bit until they adjusted to the glare.

The warm feeling on her face and the bright light were sunrays, shining in the window. She was in a bed. The room look vaguely familiar. After some time it clicked home. The room looked like the one in which she had visited Levy when she and her team-mates were hurt by Gajeel as a message and bait to Fairy Tail, shortly after the Celestial Spirit mage had joined the guild. She must be in Magnolia's hospital.

_The hospital? But I wasn't that badly hurt when I chased after that Demon. Chased after him and then... then what? I can't remember anything after that. _For a moment she had the inexplicable feeling that she should be dead, that she couldn't possibly have survived. She tried to push the feeling aside. _No... I must have been attacked from behind, causing me to black out and then that Demon hurt me while I was unconscious. He surely acted sadistically enough with Natsu and Michello, so he'd probably enjoy doing something despicable like that._

She heard a rustling beside her and turned her head. The little movement required a surprising amount of effort. In the bed next to her own she saw Natsu sleeping peacefully, his mouth wide open, granting her a front-row seat to stare deep into his throat and at the saliva running from the side of his mouth.

_Ugh... that proofs it. I'm definitely alive. There's just no way I'd be seeing something like THAT, first thing in the morning if I really was in heaven._

Not wanting to see what was going on inside the Dragon Slayer - literally in this case - she turned her head back over toward the window and her eyes fell on the heavy cast over her left arm and a similar cast on her left leg.

_Those look painful... Wait... they _look_ painful... but I don't actually _feel_ pain there. For that matter I don't feel any pain! I'm feel woozy, but definitely not in pain... It's as if I'm still half asleep..._

Wondering about how long it took for her to come fully awake, she looked around and finally noticed the IV-drip fixed to her right arm. _Is that why I'm dizzy and tired instead of being in pain?_

Try as she might she just couldn't keep her eyes open for long and soon drifted back to a dreamless sleep.

* * *

When Lucy became somewhat aware of her surroundings again, she didn't know how long she had been out. It might have been minutes or days... or even weeks for all she knew. She really had no idea.

Someone was talking nearby... no scratch that, someone was arguing, almost shouting nearby.

"~can't just sneak into a hospital to sleep there young man!" a female voice she didn't recognize barked.

"And there wouldn't have been any need for me to sneak in, if you hadn't kicked me out yesterday!" _Is that Natsu? Why on Earthland would he sneak into the hospital and sleep here?_

"This is a hospital, not a hotel! Those beds are only for patients and since your wounds are already healed, you are not a patient and thus can't sleep here!" _His wound? But he didn't look all that badly hurt after that Demon knocked him out... Wait... 'already healed'? Even a Dragon Slayer's body still needs time to recover. Just how long have I been asleep?_

"But there are no other patients here and I can't just leave Lucy's side!" _He... he snuck into the hospital to keep watch over me?_

"Of course you can. She's perfectly save in here, even without you keeping watch. Judging from your reputation I'd even go so far to say she's actually saver without you staying! Even when you don't destroy everything in sight you seem to be like a magnet for trouble. Honestly I can't see how... your guild mates... Mr Dragneel? Hello? Can you hear me? What has gotten into you all of a sudden?"

Lucy was worried. _Is something wrong with Natsu? Why did the woman suddenly trail off in the middle of her sentence? Why isn't Natsu answering her_? She tried to open her eyes, but they felt as if they were made of solid lead. With a mighty effort she finally managed to open them a little, but all she could see was the ceiling. She tried to sit up, but that turned out to be even harder than opening her eyes. When it didn't work... not even a bit, she decided to try to raise her head a little instead. With an effort she was able to turn her head, but try as she might, she just couldn't lift it. A little groan of frustration escaped her lips, barely audible, but judging from his sudden and very loud reaction, apparently still loud enough to be heard by the Dragon Slayer.

"LUCY!" she heard the Dragon Slayer shout in surprise a moment before his disorderly pink hair appeared in her field of vision, a mixture of worry and delight playing out on his face.

Natsu levelled an accusing look in the direction he had come from and spoke in a quiet voice "Now see what all your shouting did! You woke her up!" Lucy could hardly believe her ears... _Am I still dreaming or did Natsu just accuse that woman of being at fault here? After he snuck into the hospital and after he slept in one of it's beds HE's accusing HER?_ At any other time she would probably have laughed out loud about his crazy antics, but right now she was too baffled for that... and also feeling a bit groggy too, from just having been woken up and probably also from the medication.

"YOU are accusing ME of... of... after you... I just can't believe this... I'm..." Lucy heard the woman taking a deep breath and letting it out in a heavy sigh. "I'm going to get the doctor to have a look at Miss Heartfilia... but this discussion isn't over yet, you hear me young man?!" Lucy could hear her cursing under her breath gradually grow quieter until she was out of earshot.

The Celestial Spirit Mage braced herself for the triad she was sure Natsu would launch at her at any moment now. _I rushed off on my own and got myself sent to the hospital... I made him worry so much he even snuck into the hospital to watch over me... he must be furious with me._

She flinched when, instead of launching into a long speech, he gingerly picked up her right hand and gently stroked his thumb back and forth over her pink Fairy Tail mark, not saying a word. Lucy didn't know how to react. Not even able to look him in the face and far from finding any words to say to her comrade, she just kept still, her eyes fixed on his thumb, still softly stroking her guild mark. For some reason she couldn't quite grasp, his soft and gentle touch cause a blush to form on her cheeks. After some time of stunned, but somehow still comfortable, silence the doctor arrived.

He tried to send Natsu out of the room so he could give Lucy a check-up, but the stubborn Dragon Slayer just wouldn't budge. He would concede into turning his back, but that was as far as he was willing to go. Only when Lucy herself asked him to please follow the doctor's instructions he reluctantly agreed to leave the room.

After the physical check-up, the doctor remarked about how well she had recovered in such a short time and marvelled about Wendy's incredible healing abilities. The only wounds that still remained were her broken arm, leg and ribs. Particularly her ribs would cause her great discomfort if she was taken off the painkillers or started to move around too soon he said. When he told her he was going to ask her some question about the events that had put here in his care, Lucy was confused. She remarked that she didn't suffer from amnesia, that she clearly remembered everything about herself and her life, but he was insistent. At first it seemed just routine stuff and she had no troubles at all to answer the questions about her past.

She remembered the decisions made in the guild hall, the packing, going to the train station, the train ride, the walk toward Michello's home,... _wait the walk to his home? From the train ride straight to the walk? _Try as she might, she couldn't remember actually getting off the train, or leaving the train station. Worry started to build up in her, as more and more gaps in her memories became exposed, growing ever more numerous until she reached the point at which her memory ended, when she had chased after Jackal.

No the memories didn't completely end there. When she concentrated she could call up some blurry images, but they were too vague to make sense of them. _So I wasn't knocked out... I just forgot? _The thought worried her deeply.

"Well... it was to be expected. After major injuries, most people temporarily forget about the event in which they got them and your wounds certainly were bad enough to fall into that category. I'm sure your memories will come back eventually, though it might take a few more days until they do. For now you should get some more rest." The doctor's words helped to put her worries to rest.

"With the good progress you've been making, I think it would be alright for you to already get some light fare if you feel up for it."

"That would be great. I'm famished"

"Then I'll send the nurse to you with some breakfast."

* * *

After a light breakfast, which was surprisingly good considering it was hospital food, she felt much better. Between Lucy being awake and not in pain and the Nurse having given up her attempts to argue him out of the hospital, Natsu seemed to be really happy. To the Celestial Spirit Mage's relieve, he showed no sign of being angry with or disappointed in her.

Despite only being awake for less than an hour, Lucy felt her eyelids growing heavy until she was fast asleep again.

But unlike the complete void from before, this time she dreamt. Her sleep was plagued by nightmares. People screaming her name, imploring her to save them only to be immolated into nothingness by a grinning Cat-Demon. Bright orange lines tracing patterns below her feet and blowing up, sending her spinning through the air, while someone was shouting about how much fun it was. Feeling relieve about Natsu coming to her rescue only for a Demon to stretch his hand toward her, making the world vanish behind a curtain of red and orange and bringing indescribable pain.

With a start Lucy's eyes flew open, the nightmares still fresh on her mind... _No, not nightmares... Memories! That really happened! I chased after that Demon and he caught me in a trap. He played with me, made me decide who would live and who... oh my god! I told him to save the woman and kill... I condemned a man to die!_ Panic welled up in her and a few tears started to roll down her cheeks. Her breathing grew faster and deeper as everything started to flow back into her mind, threatening to crush her sanity. The sick ten-round game that Jackal forced onto her, the cries of pain from Michello and the woman each time she made another choice.

The moment she cracked...

She had given up!

When she couldn't take it anymore she had stepped off the landmine, just wanting it to end, wanting everything to just end. And just before her sight was taken away by the flames, Natsu charging in.

A moment of courage and hope had flared up in her and she managed to work past the pain to summon Virgo and Aries to save the two hostages. The pain was so excruciating that all she could do was lying there, breathing and mentally holding on to the magic of her two spirit friends. Each breath felt like molten lead flowing through her lungs as she drew it in and leaving the metallic taste of blood in her mouth on the way out, making her hopes fade away bit by bit again.

Then explosions. Natsu standing before her, shielding her and then moving aside to draw the enemies attention away. The enemy grinning and moving his hand back to point at her.

And her death... _I was killed! I didn't just feel like I was going to die, I really did die! How is that possible? How can I be here, now, if I died?_

Her breathing had turned into short, frantic gasps... she was hyperventilating.

"Lucy! What's wrong. Please tell me, is there anything I can do for you? Lucy!"

The whole room was spinning before her wide eyes. She tried to keep at least the pink-haired boy who was hovering nervously over her in focus, use him as an anchor to stop herself from being flung out into space.

"Natsu... I..." she managed between her desperate gasps. She just couldn't get enough air. Suddenly Natsu carefully pulled her up into a sitting position and softly embraced her. He pulled her head to his shoulder, one hand going to her back to keep her upright while the other slowly stroked the back of her head. Finally she was able to breathe, at least a little and a moment later the dams broke. Her tears started to flow in earnest.

"It's alright. I took care of that monster. He will never again hurt you or anyone else. You're save."

She had no idea how long they were sitting like this, but gradually her breath' became slower and steadier and her rigid back was finally able to relax. She buried her face into his shoulder and sobbed into his scarf. She wished she could hug him back, but the IV drip in her right and the cast around her left arm just made it impossible without injuring herself.

"Natsu... how can I still... be here? I... I died. I was dead!"

Natsu pulled back. He held her softly at her shoulder, still unwilling to completely relinquish the contact and looked directly into her eyes before he spoke. "Wendy told me that the Human body can survive several minutes without a heartbeat before it really dies and that she was able to bring you back before that happened to you."

After a long silence she mumbled "But did I really deserve to be brought back?"

* * *

**After words: **So in the last chapter the light was shining through the window in the evening and now it's doing the same in the morning? Does the room rotate along to always let in the sun or did I just not pay attention? ... Let's just say after her life was no longer in danger, Lucy was moved to another room, like from intensive care to the regular rooms. ^^  
Ah, it felt wonderful to write about Natsu's funny antics and his "discussion" with the nurse after all this pain and suffering... or rather between it I guess. That idea about him accusing the nurse of waking Lucy wasn't planned, it just popped into my head as I wrote, but I love it. It's just so like Natsu to pull something like that and honestly don't see his own fault in the matter.

If anyone's wondering why Natsu suddenly went unresponsive in the argument with the Nurse: As could be seen in chapter 4, Natsu feels responsible for "letting" Lucy get hurt and when the Nurse called him a trouble-magnet she unknowingly hit this sore spot, bringing that guilt back to the fore of his mind. But Lucy, whom this chapter focuses on, had no way of knowing that, so she doesn't understand what's gotten over Natsu.

Originally I was planning this to be the last chapter of the story, but I just kept writing and writing until I took a short break and was surprised to see that it was already 5 pages long. So I think it might be better to split it into two after all.

2.12.: Grammer and slight rewording of the hand-stroking scene.


	7. Chapter 7 - Family

**Disclaimer:** Fairy Tail and all associated characters, locations, ect. are owned by Hiro Mashima.

After a semi-disappointing 362nd chapter, I have the joy to present you with the (this time really) final chapter of my alternate story of these events.

* * *

**Chapter 7 - Family**

After a long silence she mumbled "But did I really deserve to be brought back?" Judging from his reaction Natsu must have heard her.

A shocked expression formed on his face. "How can you say that?" he whispered in disbelieve, as his fingers dug painfully into her shoulders. When he noticed her wincing he loosened his grip, but still held on tightly to her.

"I... I condemned a man to die..." she stammered.

"What are you talking about, Lucy?"

"Jackal... he... he caught Michello and a woman in a spell or something... He said he would kill one of them and I had to decide. If I didn't decide he'd kill them both. He tried to make me choose who was allowed to live and who would die... and... and I did...". She had started out in a whisper, but gradually her voice got louder until she was shouting. "I told him to save the woman and let Michello die!" she screamed into her friend's face before breaking down in tears again.

"Lucy." Natsu began in a soft tone, his eyes still wide in shock. "Michello survived. Wendy said he was here three days ago and he was fine."

"Yes, but only because Jackal wasn't finished with his 'game'. Only because he thought it was too boring to go for a quick kill... but I... I chose for him to die! And then... then he had me making decisions on who he would blow up next. There was no opening... no chance... I could do nothing but go along with it and my decisions hurt those two and then..." she continued to yell until her voice failed her, drowned in a sea of tears and sorrow.

Natsu, clearly at a loss for words could just stare in stunned silence.

She couldn't bear to look in his eyes any longer and turned away in shame. Almost too quiet for even a Dragon Slayer's enhanced hearing to pick up she whispered. "And then I gave up... I stepped off the landmine. It wasn't a mistake or Jackal blowing it up... it was me... I just couldn't take it anymore... I just wanted it to end... to die rather than to keep on hurting them, even though it meant that they too would die..."

She went completely limb, only held up by Natsu's hands, which still gripped her tightly around the shoulders. "If not for you, I would have killed myself and those two along with me."

"Wendy shouldn't have brought me back... I wanted to die... I deserved to die... still deser~"

Suddenly Natsu let go of her shoulders and gripped her face with both hands. He turning her head back to his. He was crying. Natsu was crying! _Have I ever seen him cry before? Only this one time, when my future self was killed. And now it was me who made him cry. I am a horrible person. I really should die!_

After a moment she noticed his expression. Despite the tears he looked... angry? "Don't say that! Don't you EVER say that!" he screamed into her face. "He caught me in the same trap and it was YOU who saved those two! YOU are the one who shielded them from the explosion. YOU are the one who got them out of there. What you deserve is not death or pain or suffering, but praise!"

"But I... I chose for Michello to die... I hurt them... I GAVE UP!"

"NO!" he shook his head vigorously. "You just had a moment of doubt, but you did NOT give up! Even though you were so badly hurt you summoned two Zodiacs! And you saved them!" his voice took on a pleading note: "Please, Lucy get that into your head." His voice grew ever softer. "Please don't leave me... I couldn't... I don't think I could live... without you in my world. I... I..."

"Natsu..." was all Lucy could get out. She was too shocked to say anything else. Too shocked to even think about her guilt anymore. _Did he just confess to me?_

For a moment a panicked look seemed to cross the Dragon Slayer's face, but it was gone so fast that Lucy wasn't sure it had really been there. Could it just have been her imagination?

"It's the same for the entire guild" his voice regained volume as he continued... a bit hastily perhaps? It almost seemed as if he was trying to cover up what he was really going to say. "You might only have been with us for a short time, but you've already sunk yourself into everyone's heart. Even Laxus! He never cared for anyone in the guild, but when you got hurt by Minerva, he was seething with anger just like the rest of us. When you got hurt everyone was angry." Natsu said, with emphasis on the 'everyone'. "When you were so sad after Éclair's death, everyone was said with you, even those that never even met her!"

"You've become like the heart and soul of Fairy Tail. A Fairy Tail without Lucy wouldn't be Fairy Tail anymore!"

"You can say that again!" a voice called from the door.

They both looked toward the door in surprise and saw Max coming into the room, followed by Master and more and more Fairy Tail Mages until it seemed as if half the guild had come.

Lucy was too stunned to get any words out, but beside her she could hear Natsu speaking: "Why are all of you here? And how long have you been there?"

"Maybe a minute. Natsu that's so unlike you not to notice us at all." Max replied a bit baffled.

"The hospital sent word that Lucy had woken up, so we came to welcome her back." Mirajane said with a smile on her face.

Master Makarov had a more serious expression on his face. "It is just as Natsu said. You are a Fairy Tail Mage. You are family to all of us. We laugh together, we cry together and when one of us is hurt, it hurts the entire guild. So cheer up my child. I don't know what you were crying so despondently about, but no matter what you think you might have done, know that we will always forgive you. No matter what happens, we - all of us - will always be there for you. Everyone here feels the same way and I know that those who couldn't come because they're out on missions feel the same way." She heard many shouts of confirmation and saw heads nodding all around her.

Lucy just didn't know what to say or feel as she stared at them in incomprehension, unable to really process it all.

"And also know that you did well." Master Makarov said with a smile and handed her a letter. "Now you brats get out of here. Lucy needs her rest!"

After some grumbling from the mages and them not showing any signs of leaving any time soon, Master added: "Porlyuscia said that she's going to check up on Lucy at nine o'clock." Raising an eyebrow he asked pointedly "Does anyone know the time?"

When someone stated that it was almost nine the mages practically fell over each other in their rush to clear the room. Apparently no one was willing to go up against the grumpy healer's vile mood.

When everyone but him, Wendy and Natsu had left, Master Makarov turned back to Lucy, tapping a finger on his lower lip and looked up at the ceiling, as if he was trying to remember something. "Or was that ten o'clock... hmm... my memory must have slipped a bit there." he wondered out loud before his thoughtful expression changed into a broad grin as he look directly at Lucy. "Those brats wouldn't have given you a moment of peace, but Wendy was quite insistent that you need more rest and we should keep our visit short." he explained with a nod at the Sky Dragon Slayer, who was blushing next to him. "Come on you two, let's give her some time. I think she has a few things she needs to work out."

"Ji-chan~" Natsu began to complain, but Lucy cut him off by calling his name softly. "Natsu, it's alright. Master is right... I need to work some things out... could you give me a little time for myself... just a little and then... then we can continue our conversation..." _Let's see if I was right about you hastily changing topic before._ "Especially what you were going to say before you started to mention the guild."

Natsu's face went scarlet and he quickly ran from the room, just stopping a moment at the door to shout a "See you later!" back over his shoulder, before dashing down the corridor and promptly being yelled at for running in a hospital. _What the...? I was just trying to tease him a little, but that reaction? Could he really be... _

Master Makarov and Wendy looked at Lucy in confusion. "What was that all about?"

"I don't have the slightest idea." Lucy replied quietly. She turned her head down and let her hair fall before her face to hide the shy smile and the blush that she couldn't keep from forming on her face. _It's not really a lie. After all it's just a suspicion._

Not looking at all convinced, but apparently unwilling to press the issue just now, Master and Wendy said their good byes and left her to her thoughts.

When she was finally alone, she looked at the letter that Master had given her. The envelope read 'From Aya Kansaki to Fairy Tail'. _I never heard that name before and it's addressed just to Fairy Tail, not to me. Why did Master give it to me?_ She opened it and started to read.

'To Fairy Tail.

Two days ago me and my unborn child were caught up in an incident with one of your mages in my hometown Viola.'_ Unborn child? Could she be the other hostage? Why would she send a letter to the guild? Is she going to sue us for damages?_

'When I described her, a friend of mine recognized her description from seeing her in the Grand Magic Games and told me that her name was Lucy.' _Me? What could she want from me?_ 'Since I don't know her last name or any other way to send her this letter, I'm sending it to your guild. Please make sure she gets it.' _Well I got it alright, but what is this all about? Could she be angry, because I let that Demon hurt her?_

'To our saviour,' the letter began. _Saviour? What does that... but I... I almost got her killed!_

To Lucy's amazement the woman... no not 'the woman', but Aya went on to thank her profoundly. The letter went on to explain how at first she had been angry for Lucy choosing her to be hit by that third explosion, but that once she had time to think it all through, she had realized how Lucy only tried to save both her and that horrible, small man's lives even though it would cost Lucy her own and how amazed she was when she saw Lucy use magic in that horribly hurt state she was in.

Aya wrote that she sustained only light injuries and that her unborn child - a daughter - wasn't hurt at all in the incident. She continued on that she even planed to name the baby Lucy, in honour of the woman who had saved both their lives. She apologized that she couldn't bring herself to see her in person, because she was too afraid that seeing 'Lucy-sama' so soon would only drag up the traumatic events for both of them, but she promised that once her daughter was born in roughly five month, she would come visit for sure.

Lucy couldn't believe her eyes. She read the letter over and over again until her tears made it impossible to read anymore. For the first time since she woke up, they weren't tears or grief or terror, but tears of joy. The heavy burden of her guilt began to lift from her heart.

Life was once again worth living and she couldn't wait to leave the hospital.

* * *

In the end the five month turned out to have been too optimistic. Soon the war with Tartarus started in full force and chaos spread over the lands. Lucy had more than her fair share of fighting and got into plenty of situations in which she was sure she would die. But eventually Fiore and it's legal guilds managed to defeat the Demons.

And so, a little over a year after the arrival of the letter, on a sunny afternoon in the shadow of a Rainbow-Sakura tree, little Lucy was giggling happily as she sat in her namesake's lap, bringing tears of joy to the Celestial Spirit Mage's eyes, washing away the last remaining fragments of her guilt and igniting a longing in her.

_No it's still far too early to think about children_, she thought to herself as she alternated between smiling at the baby, the proud mother and the pink-haired Fire Dragon Slayer who finally had worked up the courage to confess his feelings and ask her out for their first date just a few hours earlier.

* * *

**After words:** Sorry if I got anyone's hopes up for a hot romance between Natsu and Lucy, but after these events they only have just begun to realize their feelings for each other, so they aren't nearly that far yet (and not all M-rated stories have to have lemon!). I prefer slowly building romance over suddenly falling into each other's arms (and beds) and with the upcoming war (or the already started war, one could even say) with Tartarus this is hardly the right time for building a deeper relationship. That and Natsu being dense enough to make a block of granite feel jealous, most of the time.

Regarding the mention of Éclair: For this story I'm assuming that the events of the movie are canon and happened between the Grand Magic Games and the Village of the Sun arcs, mostly because it's convenient for my story and because I really like the movie. While there are several places in the manga and anime that show how much Lucy's joy or sadness rub over at the other FT mages, the mentioned scene at the end of the movie is showing it the best.  
The scene was just done so well and heart-wrenching and as I let Natsu say here, _everyone _was sad with Lucy. There wasn't a single FT mage who looked happy, despite them just having saved the world from certain destruction. And I don't think it's because of what happened to Éclair, since most of them didn't even know her (some of them hadn't so much as seen her even a single time), but they were sad from seeing Lucy hurt so badly on the inside, saw her crying her heart out like that. I also liked how everyone was standing a bit away from Lucy, with their eyes cast down and it was only Natsu who could approach her and take her into his arms.

Originally it was Gray who walked in the door, in front of Makarov, but since he's one of FT's top mages I figured he'd be on one of the ex-councillor protection teams and thus couldn't be there, so I changed it to Max (the Sand Mage).

After re-writing the 2nd chapter to allow Lucy to shine a bit, I had planed to leave the pregnant woman's fate unresolved, with it being unclear whether she died in the massive last explosion (before re-writing chapter 2 I even planed to let her die and have Wendy lie to Lucy about it, like Makarov told Freed that everyone in Hargeon was saved, even though more than 100 people died), but after hearing from two people how they hoped the woman would survive, I was swayed into doing just that. But I felt it wouldn't fit to let the woman come visit Lucy or for Lucy to go back to the town anytime soon, so I got the idea of that letter instead and the belayed visit some time later just popped into my mind while I was writing that scene. Since the name of the city in which Jackal's attack on Michello took place was never stated, I had to come up with a name by myself and decided to stick with the flower theme that's been established in the rest of Fiore (Crocus, Magnolia, Onibus, ect.), so Viola town it became. I wasn't able to come up with the actual letter in a way that sounded realistic to me, so I settled to just describe it's contents, without going into the exact wording instead.

Wow... those after words turned out to almost be long enough to qualify as a chapter of their own. ^^

**Final Thoughts:** So that was my second Fanfict. When I began writing it, I expected it to be only three chapters long, but I just got caught up in it. I really enjoyed writing this a lot and hope you also enjoyed reading it. Thank you for all the nice reviews, favourites and follows. While I would have finished this story one way or the other for sure, they really helped to motivate me to finish it faster and make it better.

2.12.: Grammar, added a division line before the 1-year timejump at the end.


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